Hi there,
New here but seems to be a ton of valuable info and help available.

I have a 30 year old home with cinder block basement walls. I have owned the house for the past two years and while I have had some moisture issues in the basement they have not been severe and only manifest when there is significant moisture. I have done some things on the exterior (extending downspouts, increase grade near the house foundation) but some of the issues persist that need to be eliminated before I finish the basement.

The moisture is most evident in corners and under/near two window wells. I do not know if my weeping tile is working properly or not.

Exterior work is not really feasible as I had some significant landscaping done (hindsight being 20/20 I wish I had the water issues BEFORE the landscaping was done!).

I have some people come in and talk about internal drains, crystalline applications, and someone on injections (although admittedly I am not sure how this works on cinder block).

The crystalline makes sense to me but the contractor was recommended only treating the affected areas vs. doing the entire space. His logic is I am not in a major rush to do the basement so why not treat the areas that are a problem and see what happens when the snow melts/rain falls in spring.

There are about 5 areas he has quoted on treating (comprising approx 150 sq ft.).

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

90% of basement water problems can be fixed or improved by having properly woorking gutters/downspouts, that get the water at least 6' away from the foundation walls and grading that does the same. Even if you have landscaping, you should be able to add dirt to slope away from the house, over plastic cloth. The other 10% are caused by high water tables and have no simple solution.

 

Thanks Bill.

Never heard of plastic cloth. Is this something I can get at HD/Lowes? Any resources you know of regarding application?

Thanks again.

 

sorry, landscaping cloth. It is not really plastic and not really cloth.